Pretty Cure Menagerie
by MissMelli
Summary: Cadenza was once a world of music, where everyone sang their unique heart song freely. That is, until they were attacked by a strange group called Coalescence. Now its up to a few Cadenzan refugees to find and train Pretty Cure warriors to fight back and regain their Amulets, items that hold all a person's uniqueness within them.
1. Chapter 1

'They say the complex is haunted.'

Just then something caught her attention in the window, making the muscles in her neck tense. The glow of her phone screen had lit up her face as she tapped out the text, her pale reflection suddenly appearing and looking back at her with heavy lidded eyes, a ghost in the darkness. The sight would have made anyone else jump; anyone less versed in the tropes of horror, that is. Scares at the beginning of the journey are never the threatening ones.

'Shouldn't you be heading home? It could be dangerous this late.'

'You could have come so I wouldn't be alone.'

'Not when I haven't finished the history homework.'

Zuki made a face instinctively at the sight of the word. Perhaps history would be more interesting if they covered the bits with monsters. Like what lead to this apartment complex being abandoned, or filled with ghosts, whichever happened first. Zuki surmised a ghost infestation would do the trick driving out tenants. It didn't make sense for everyone to assume it was the other way around, but the whole thing was a very chicken and egg situation she didn't care to think too hard about.

'It's not due until Monday.'

'I want time to look over it so I don't fail right before graduation!'

Zuki huffed. Besides her own reflection she couldn't see anything through the old clouded windows beside the front door, so she tucked the light source away in her bag alongside haphazard leftovers from her dinner and some office supplies she had picked up earlier for Yuto. With her face pressed close to the grimy glass she could spy a split hallway that ran parallel to the doorway, and a set of stairs running perpendicular and covered in graffiti. Giving the door handle an experimental tug proved unfruitful, and Zuki scrunched up her face with a pointed look at the door handle.

Remnants of the last snow crunched underfoot as she hopped off the entryway in search of another way inside, figuring there must be a back door somewhere on the other side of the wide apartment complex. If not, she wasn't necessarily above making an entrance of her own. If ghosts could trespass, why couldn't she?

The back half of the building hid behind the protection of a rusting chain link fence, which Zuki kicked gently with her toe. She watched the resulting rattle run its way down the length of the fence, her eyes stopping at a particular spot along the bottom. A particular spot where the twisting metal lost its uniform pattern, bent out of shape and revealing a small hole at the base of the fence. Taking a moment to lament her lack of gloves, Zuki placed her hand into the snowdrift, finding the pile of snow was obscuring a small indent that tunneled its way under the gap in the fence.

Unceremoniously, Zuki tossed her backpack over the fence and crouched down to shimmy her way underneath before the bag's contents could get too soggy. As she pulled her way through, her raised elbow caught the sharp end of a stray wire and tore straight through her jacket. She wiggled through the rest of the way without the use of her arms and sat up to give her elbow a quick once over. The jacket was torn clean through, but seemed to cushion the damage to her skin as only a single, tiny bead of blood bloomed on her skin. Standing upright and tossing her bag over her shoulders once again, she continued her trek to the back of the apartment complex.

Almost without thinking, she tapped her finger against the droplet of blood on her elbow, rubbing the wet substance between her thumb and forefinger. For much of her childhood she had thought that her blood was pink, and sparkled in the light like the snow. Looking down at the pale red smeared between her fingers, she could confirm that was not the case, and yet the idea persisted.

There was a distinct memory that gave rise to this idea, a memory that raised doubts in anyone she shared it with and yet she remained wholly certain of. A childhood incident, getting lost, a strange woman, a stranger contraption that drained a sparkling pink substance from inside her, and a beautiful girl who came to her rescue.

Ever since that day, she had become obsessed. Anything monstrous or creepy or secretive, she had to learn more. Maybe then, one day, she'd be able to make sense of the encounter, of the pink blood, and the girl who walked through the sky.

Zuki spent most of her life exploring alone, like now, as she shuffled up to a back door and placed her hand on the cold metal. Himena came sometimes, supportive as she was, but no one was perfect and Himena's biggest flaw was her commitment to homework. At least, today that was her biggest flaw. Some days it was that she was too nice, and others it was her persistent rationality. But today it was her dedication to education that irked the lone explorer.

Any irritation quickly evaporated as her hand twisted the handle of the door, and slowly she inched the door open until she could peek her head inside. Musky air seeped out of the doorway like the complex had been holding its breath. Zuki found the inside was warmer than she had anticipated as she cautiously stepped across the threshold and closed the door behind her. Abandoned buildings in winter, and buildings inhabited by ghosts, both tended to be cold.

With an irritated huff, Zuki pulled her phone out of her bag to use as a flashlight, though she doubted now that there were any ghosts to be found. She wandered down cracked tile halls, her light glancing off particles of dust that flurried about as she moved through the still air. Looping back around to the front of the building she found herself in the hallway she had spied through the window.

Approaching the stairwell, she stopped on the first step and shone her light on the graffitied walls. The paint lent some color to the otherwise drab surroundings, although she couldn't quite tell what it was supposed to say. It certainly didn't appear to be in Japanese, and seemed more like a picture at this point than any words.

Five steps further up the stairway sprawled some new art, and a few steps further lie even more, each distinct from the last. Before she knew it the staircase had run out of steps, and she stood on the second floor that spread perpendicular to the staircase just like the first floor. Unlike the first floor however, it seemed she was not alone. A ways down the right hall was the vague outline of a pale figure, wearing all white and standing hunched over without any indication of hands, or legs. In fact, it wasn't until she squinted that she could even make out a head, obscured in the darkness by a shaggy mop of black hair.

Cutting off the light from her phone, she gripped it tightly in her hand as she approached the spectral figure with slow steps. As she crept her fingers deftly opened her phone's camera, and once within ten feet of the figure, she stole a snapshot. She closed her eyes so as to not be blinded by the flash, but it seemed to startle whatever lay before her as it let out a cry of surprise and quickly turned around.

Zuki turned quicker, however, and was already at the top of the staircase once again before she heard the sounds of footsteps behind her. Flying down the steps two at a time, invigorated by her find, she couldn't help but grin as the angered figure gave chase. Reaching the first floor once more, she noticed the front doors were simply locked from the inside rather than chained, so a quick turn of the deadbolt let the doors swing open to the old front entry where the road back into town proper snaked its way through the trees, barely lit by the failing street lamps.

"Hey, wait!"

The voice stopped Zuki in her tracks. An audio and a visual event? She should have been recording. And to think, she thought the warmth had meant there wouldn't be any ghosts there at all, let alone a near full body apparition that spoke.

When she turned back to the doorway and saw not a ghost, but a man, donning a long white jacket, black gloves, and black pants, disappointment crashed down on all of her features, pushing her brows down into a scowl and her lips into a pronounced frown.

"What are you doing here?" the man demanded, hostility evident in his posture.

"Looking for monsters," Zuki replied simply. "What are you doing here?"

"That's none of your business," the man chided, although moments after he straightened up slightly, smoothing out the front of his jacket with a gloved hand. "Are you here alone?"

Zuki squinted her eyes slightly. "No."

"Who are you here with?"

"You."

The man grunted irritably. "Besides me? Is there anyone else here besides you and me?"

"Mmm," Zuki shook her head.

"That must be pretty lonely, spending the evening out here all by yourself. Do you have any friends?"

"One," Zuki said simply. "But she had homework."

"We used to be just like you, me and my friends," the man began, his tone lighter, almost sympathetic. "But when we found each other, everything changed." He had begun to approach Zuki from the doorway, slowly, with arms held out and welcoming. "We can help you, you'd be much happier with more friends to support you. Do you trust us?"

"No."

The man stopped, his hands dropping down to his sides. "Why not?"

"I don't know you," Zuki said with a small shrug.

"Don't you want more friends? I bet people make fun of you, looking for monsters all by yourself, don't they?"

"Some people do."

"Doesn't that make you sad?"

Zuki blinked slowly. "No. Why would it?" By this point, she was growing tired of his cryptic line of questioning. She had only intended on spending the evening in the company of monsters or ghosts, not regular old people who asked a lot of question.

Something on the man's face changed, "Well, because—" Zuki turned her back on the man, beginning to walk back towards the road home. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Zuki opened her mouth to say something, not bothering to turn back around until she heard the sound of rapid footsteps in the snow. The man was charging towards her, something large and metallic in his hand. Was that a gun?

The sight made her heartbeat flurry faster, although not as much in panic as a strange exhilaration. She never saw herself encountering a situation like this, one like in her horror movies. But she knew all the tropes well enough, surely that meant she could prove herself to be a capable horror heroine.

Bending her knees slightly as the man neared, she jammed her shoulder upward and forward with as much force as she could with her feet in the slushy snow. Her shoulder made contact with the man's ribs, and he let out a strangled cry as the air was forced past his lips. Swinging her arm without much direction, she managed to knock the device from his hand, the thing landing in the snow a few feet away.

The man scrambled backwards in the snow, giving Zuki the opportunity to swing her backpack around in front of her, blindly feeling around for something to defend herself with.

"You think you can fuck with me?!" Zuki swore, ripping her arm from her bag and clasping one of the office supplies she had purchased for Yuto in her hand. "Do you even know who you are fucking with?!"

The man blinked in surprise at the sudden change in her demeanor, frozen in his spot and staring. "N-no?"

Zuki shrugged off her bag and threw it to the ground, holding a staple remover out before her. "I come out here alone to hunt monsters, and find ghosts! You know how I know there are ghosts here?!" she screamed, taking a step towards the man and widening her eyes. "I MADE EM!"

Sweat began to bead on the man's paling face as she took another step towards him with the staple remover brandished in front of her like a weapon. "You want to know…what I use this for?" she asked, her voice now a sweet saccharine whisper as she clicked the staple remover's teeth together gently. The man simply stared, confused, eyes shifting rapidly from Zuki's face, to the staple remover, and back to Zuki. "I SAID, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?! DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I DID TO THE LAST GUY WHO SAW ME HERE?!"

The man whimpered and scuffled backwards quickly. "N-no!"

"Well then you better get your sorry ass out of here before I SHOW YOU!"

That was all it took to send the man off hauling ass down the street, screams that sounded something like 'crazy bitch' trailing behind him on the stiff winter breeze. Satisfied that her work was done, Zuki picked up her bag again, dusting off the snow and dropping the staple remover back inside. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly for a moment to re-moisturize after holding them wide in the frigid air for her performance, contemplating buying another staple remover to keep on her person in case of other situations like this.

Once her eyes felt like they had returned at least somewhat back to normal, she crossed over to where the man's discarded weapon lay propped upright in the snow. She toed it cautiously, tipping it over onto its side to get a better look. It certainly did look like a gun, although upon closer inspection there wasn't any place for bullets to come from. Instead of a barrel, two long needles protruded from the end of the device, and along the top ran two clear glass tanks. One of the tanks sat completely empty, while the other was filled to the brim with something that nearly looked like sewage, muddy, thick, and sticky as it slowly moved inside the tank now that it had been kicked over. It seemed so familiar, and yet wildly strange at the same time. As if she remembered being fascinated by this thing before.

A quick scamper to the tree line and Zuki returned with a fallen tree branch, slightly soggy from the snow but good for poking around unfamiliar objects with. But first, some memorialization was in order. She snapped a quick photo of the device and immediately sent it to Himena with the text:

'Found guy with this. What do you think it is?'

If anyone would know, it'd be Himena. Probably read about it while doing her homework or something. She gave the tanks on the device a curious poke with her branch, and a strange whirring, mechanical noise sounded. Had she woken it up with her prodding? The sounds certainly sounded like angry robot grumbles, or at least what she imagined they would sound like. Kneeling down closer to the device Zuki determined, however, the sound came not from it, but from something just behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, she jumped as something straight from a nightmare, no, a bad memory, clicked its way towards her. This new mechanical monstrosity looked like a spider with its eight curved legs that clicked and whirred as it walked towards her. Instead of eight eyes, one large glass eye sat in front of what would be its head, and instead of a spider's abdomen two glass tanks attached to the thorax of the robotic thing. Just like the device before her, one tank remained empty while the other contained the same sludge as the man's weapon. Not only that, but as the thing neared, Zuki could see clearly a set of needles poking out from the spider's fangs.

Now this was something she needed to show Himena. Slowly she reached once again for her phone, but despite the caution in her movement the spider robot lurched forward suddenly. Zuki scuttled backwards a few tiny steps, gripping her branch in both hands and taking a swing at the approaching robot. Her attack missed, but it did ward off the robot at least momentarily. It seemed to consider her for a moment, bringing its legs in close and focusing its solitary eye on her.

Without warning it lurched forward, legs clicking rapidly as it bared its needle tipped fangs. Zuki swung again, taking a step back and realizing with a loud crunch that she had just stepped on the man's discarded device, shattering the glass tubes. As soon as the brown muck touched her shoe, it began to smoke, eating away at her shoe like acid and making the skin on her heel feel hot. In her surprise her grip on her makeshift weapon loosened, and the robot easily avoided her attack before latching its fangs onto her ankle.

Zuki tried to scream, but found the noise caught in her throat. Immediately her vision blurred and dizziness pinched and pulled at her mind. What she could make out was the empty tank on the robot's back beginning to fill with shimmering pink liquid, same as it had as a child. At the same time, the brown sludge in the opposite tank began to drain at the same pace as the other filled until they had swapped places, the left tank filled with pink liquid and the right empty save for some residue from the viscous substance.

And Zuki could no longer move. The last thing she could say for certain was that her body felt like it was changing, and the robot tucked in its spidery legs until it formed into a ball and rolled away through the snow. Her body strained under the feeling of immense pressure both within and outside her, and as much as she tried to scream or cry for help the only sound that occasionally escaped her throat was a monotone moan.

At some point, she stood up. At least, it looked like she had. Zuki couldn't remember making any conscious effort to do so, and she felt so heavy she couldn't possibly, but her body moved regardless like a puppet on invisible strings. She was a helpless, half conscious observer trapped inside her own body, or at least whatever had become of it. As she moved her arms began to thrash at nothing in particular, and she saw they had become a ghostly white, and incredibly long with massive hands that now clawed at the ground as she made her way back towards the apartment complex.

Trying to make sound once more, all that escaped was the same long, drawn out droaning as before as her body lumbered up the steps, Zuki helpless to stop herself.

A flash of light caught her attention, and the attention of whatever was holding her mind hostage, and her body turned slowly to identify the source. She could hardly believe what she was seeing. Standing in the snow was the girl from her memory. The gun, the robot, and now her. They were all real, and all here.

The girl looked exactly as she had all those years ago, albeit a little older. Her round face was framed by long black hair that ended with red tips that matched the red bow in her hair. She wore a red and white polka dotted dress, and matching red heels despite the snow, each shoe adorned with a tiny floating white wing.

While Zuki felt simultaneously amazed and validated at the appearance of this girl once again, a stronger feeling out of her control welled up in her stomach. The urge to attack.

She took off towards the girl, her fists clenched and swinging violently at the place where the girl stood. Her fist made contact with the ground instead, and the girl spun into a sharp kick to the face. Zuki felt nothing nothing when the blow landed, but the beast that had trapped her let out another monotone cry. The girl struck her twice more, and both times Zuki seemed somehow cushioned from the attacks. Still her body lashed out, one of her large white hands grabbing ahold of the girl's ankle and flinging her into a tree that immediately crashed to the ground, the girl rolling away just in time to avoid being crushed.

"Well if it's going to be like that!" the girl jeered, throwing her hand up into the air, "Menagerie Arsenal!" A bright light took form in her hand, stretching out into the shape of a giant hammer.

"Let's see how you like this!"

The girl dashed off to the side and Zuki lumbered after her, only to be struck by the hammer as soon as she turned towards her, and then again as the girl swung in the other direction. She felt frustration building up inside her new body, and both arms shot out to smash the girl in between them, but the girl avoided them both by jumping well above her head and raising up the hammer.

"Pretty Cure! Shockwave Blast!"

The heart that adorned the end of the hammer began to glow, and though Zuki tried to escape the hammer made contact with the center of her back sending her crumpling to the ground as a bright red light burst from the hammer upon impact. Another dying groan spilled from her body, but Zuki herself felt warm, almost comforted by the light that surrounded her, and she let her eyes drift slowly closed.

When they opened again, she wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed. All she knew was that the heaviness dissipated and now she felt very light, and very, very dizzy. Turning her head took more effort than she thought it would, and the cold that pressed against her cheek let her know she was laying in the snow. Off to the side, she could see the girl in red picking up what looked like a large coin from the ground next to her and brushing off the snow.

"It's safe to come out now!" she called, though to who Zuki couldn't see. Light footsteps in the snow were all she could hear, and she attempted to lift her head up, managing to catch a glimpse of what looked like a little pale blue dog walking on two legs, a tuft of fur obscuring both his eyes. That definitely wasn't something from her past memory of this girl. She would have remembered a tiny two legged blue dog.

The girl in red crouched down and handed the dog the coin, "Looks like Indie was right," she smiled as the animal in turn pressed the coin to his chest. In a small flash of light, the coin had become a small blue tie fastened around the dog's neck, and his color seemed a little brighter than it had been initially.

"Phew! I was worried I wouldn't make it, bebop," the dog sighed contentedly, climbing up onto the girl's shoulder. "Now, what are you gonna do about her, bebop?"

"Take her home, duh," the girl in red said flatly, earning a snort from the dog.

"You're starting to sound like Indie."

The girl rolled her eyes, and walked over to where Zuki lay, picking up her backpack along the way. "Hey there, is this yours?" she asked, holding the bag in front of Zuki. A healthy dollop of snow fell from the bag and straight onto her face with a wet splat. The girl in red gasped in horror, dropping to her knees and wiping away the snow with her hands. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry about that."

Zuki's expression didn't change much, but she reached her hand slowly towards the bag, attempting to sit up.

"Woah, be careful there! You've been through some shit tonight, take it easy." The girl went to place her hand on Zuki's back, helping her sit upright slowly with her support. "Can you remember who you are?"

"Who…I am?" Her brain certainly hadn't recovered enough to be answering existential questions.

"What's your name?" the blue dog spoke this time from his perch on the girl's shoulder.

"Mikazuki."

That much she could remember.

The girl in red smiled, "Ah that's a good name! Nice to meet you, Mikazuki." Without warning the girl scooped Zuki up into her arms, tossing her bag over her shoulder. "Now, let's see if you can remember where you live?"

Zuki's face scrunched up and her head throbbed. "Call me…Zuki."

"Okay Zuki! Why don't we get a better view so you can tell me where your house is, hmm?" The girl in red clicked her heels, and the tiny wings on either side of her shoes began to grow and glow, and the girl climbed up into the air like she was climbing a flight of stairs, little hearts appearing under her shoes as she stepped onto nothing.

Soon they were above the trees, and though the words escaped her Zuki managed in her stupor to point in the right direction. The girl in red bounded through the sky in a moment that was all too familiar to Zuki, and eventually she climbed down the invisible steps until they stood just outside Zuki's bedroom window, 40 feet off the ground.

"Jazz, could you lend me a hand?" the girl asked the little dog on her shoulder. He nodded, bouncing off her shoulder and sticking to the wall, putting his paws on the window.

"They don't call me dog burglar for nothin, bebop," he chortled, easily opening the window from the outside and climbing in. The girl in red slipped in gracefully, depositing Zuki on her bed and slipping her bag off her shoulder and setting it on her desk.

"You're gonna feel a little woozy for a couple days, so take it easy. Maybe tell people you've got food poisoning or something," she laughed, the dog, Jazz, climbing back up onto her shoulder. "And don't go out alone at night if you can help it!" She made a motion to climb through the window again when Zuki managed to sit up on her own.

"Wait."

The girl paused, one leg already out the window, "What's up, buttercup?"

"I remember you."

The dog and the girl exchanged a glance. "What do you mean?"

"You're…" Zuki scrunched her face up. She knew it. What was her name? "Rockabilly."

The girl in red smiled, running a hand down her polka dotted dress. "Lucky guess!"

"No, you've saved me before," Zuki insisted, her persistence increasing she regained a bit more control of herself.

"I don't think—"

The girl, Rockabilly, silenced Jazz's remark with a gentle tap on his nose. "That actually sounds…kinda familiar. When was this?"

"A long time ago," Zuki mumbled, reaching up and scratching her head aggressively as though the stimulation would help her think.

Rockabilly swung her leg back in the room and reached over to place her hand on Zuki's arm, "Hey knock it off, you need to relax," she insisted, a small smile lifting the corners of her lips. "I believe you. I'm glad we got to meet again! And now you need to stay out of trouble so we can keep it at twice!"

She had already climbed out the window by the time Zuki managed to call out for her again. "Wait! I want to know what's going on. What are those things? And what are you?" She rolled over onto her side and looked forlornly out the window. It seemed Rockabilly had already left, until she popped her head back into the window frame.

"I'll come back another time, when you're better. Then I'll explain things, okay?"

Zuki frowned.

"Until then you need to focus on getting better."

Zuki scowled.

With a smile and a wave, the girl in red closed the bedroom window, and with a few powerful bounds had leapt out of sight. Zuki rolled onto her back, lazily kicking off her shoes, the heel of one now completely ruined by whatever was in that tube…and whatever had been injected into her by that robot.

Leaning over the edge of her bed, she fished around in the dark until her fingers clasped her cell phone, and she flipped to her photos. One of the strange device the man had dropped, and another of the man himself in the poorly lit hallway, blown out by the flash. No photos of the spider robot that attacked her, no photos of the strange monster she had momentarily become, and no photos of the girl in red who had arrived to save her for a second time in her eighteen years.

She flipped to her texts and tapped out another message to Himena.

'See me at work tomorrow? Lots to tell you.'


	2. Chapter 2

"I didn't hear you come home last night."

Zuki had spent a good portion of her 'getting ready time' trying to rake through the tangles in her long black hair. Whether it became so atrocious from the fight with the robot, the fight with Rockabilly, or their pseudo-flight home she couldn't be sure. Either way, she rolled out of bed dizzy and looking gaunt, and Yuto definitely noticed. That coupled with concern over the fact that his daughter somehow made it inside without him hearing or seeing her walk past his room had raised concerns that his daughter might actually be turning into some type of creature that could turn invisible at will, or phase through walls, or some other manner of superpowers.

When he hadn't seen her come midnight, he crept quietly down the hall and peered cautiously into her room, only to find her there and in bed, fast asleep. The only rational explanation seemed to be that he had momentarily dozed off at the moment she came back, or he had been particularly engrossed in his book and hadn't noticed her walking past. But coupled with her appearance and behavior this morning, he couldn't help his parental concern.

"I was practicing stealth," Zuki replied dismissively, yanking out the last of the knots in her hair (and leaving a healthy amount of hair stuck in her brush).

"Stealth?"

"Yeah. So if I encounter any monsters I can sneak up on them and get their picture. And then I'll sell it and be rich and I'll buy you anything you want. So don't worry that I'm practicing," she chided, turning on her heel and throwing her arms around her father in a brief hug. "Time to go."

Yuto returned the embrace with a gentle hug of his own, smiling faintly as his daughter walked to the door, "Have a good day!"

—

Zuki tried her best not to look inebriated on her walk to work, with mixed success. There were plenty of eyes on her as she walked, then again there often were, but today more so than usual. Every so often she had to put her arm out to brace against something as she drifted to one side or the other in her stupor.

Only part of the winding walk was symptomatic of her dizziness, the other culprit was her wandering eye as she kept her head tilted up, staring into the sky. No one in sight, besides the people presumably on the occasional airplane and flew past. The sky was partly cloudy and grey, all the more reason for a bright red dress to stand out. That is, unless she hid above the clouds, but that was a silly thought. Flying was one thing, but could she even breathe at that kind of altitude? Zuki doubted it.

Apparently it wasn't just Yuto's parental instincts that sensed something was wrong, as the moment she walked into work at the local convenience store (a solid fifteen minutes late from her sky gazing dawdle), her manager's eyes locked onto her immediately and he made a beeline for her.

"What on earth is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Zuki said with an innocent shrug.

"Are you…feeling okay?" he asked, a bit less accusatory and a bit more concerned this time around.

"Mmm," Zuki nodded, slowly so as not to further dizzy herself.

Sato frowned, studying her face critically for a moment before he sighed and shook his head. "Just don't hurt yourself, okay? Or anyone else." Zuki gave another obedient, slow nod.

Just as she stepped out to begin her work for the day, the door opened and a girl with curly brunette hair and a worried expression stood in the doorway.

"Ah, I'm gonna go organize some things in the back," Zuki called over to Sato, who gave a noncommittal grunt as Zuki ushered Himena towards the door to the storage room.

"What happened?!" Himena asked in a shrill whisper, covering her mouth with her hands.

"It's nothing to worry about, I think," Zuki began slowly, sitting down and opening up a box to rearrange so she could at least pretend to be doing something.

"Nothing to worry about? Your texts definitely worried me!" Himena insisted, her eyes seeming particularly puppy-like as she took a seat next to Zuki and threw her arms around her.

Himena was a lot like a dog. Her demeanor was friendly and attentive, she got along well with everyone and everyone liked her. She was the only person who could be spotted hanging out with the popular kids, but also with Zuki. Or rather, she was more or less the only person who would be spotted hanging out with Zuki. Her curly pigtails even looked like floppy dog ears if you squinted a bit.

"I was looking for ghosts at the complex, and I thought I saw one. I took this," Zuki fished her phone from her pocket and showed her the image of what, in her defense, certainly looked like a ghost in the low light.

Himena sucked a sharp gasp past her worry bitten lips. "I can't believe you actually found one!" she whispered in awe, leaning so close to the phone that her nose nearly touched the screen.

"I didn't," Zuki sighed, pulling the phone back. "It was just a man. He was the one who had this," she swiped to the photo of the device in the snow.

"Oh, the man with the gun?" Himena asked, still enraptured by the photos.

"Except it isn't a gun. It has needles," Zuki attempted to explain, poking the picture where the needles protruded. "He ran away but then this robot came after me."

"A robot?!" Himena gasped.

"A spider robot."

" _A spider robot?!"_

"Yeah. And it had needles and tanks like on this. And it sucked out pink stuff and injected the brown stuff. And then I turned into a monster."

The expression on Himena's face twisted into something that partially resembled disbelief, but mostly like someone had just offered her a meat pie made of human flesh. Abject horror and an utmost concern for the mental wellbeing of the one offering it to her.

"Want to see?" Zuki didn't give much time for a response, she never did, before she rolled down one of her socks to reveal two small puncture wounds on her ankle. One looked relatively normal, while the other had dark veiny tendrils snaking out around it like it had been a bleeding pen that stabbed through her skin.

Himena swallowed her instinctive revulsion with practiced ease and gently touched below the wounds. "Do they still hurt?"

"No. Everything stopped hurting after I became a monster, now I just feel like I can't see straight."

"Then what happened?"

"The girl, Rockabilly, from when I was a kid!" Zuki exclaimed with abrupt excitement, "She came and saved me, just like before. Except this time the thing she was fighting was me. And she had a little blue dog who could talk, and wore clothes. And now I feel terrible. Isn't that great?"

Himena's brain had not quite made the same mental leap as Zuki's to that conclusion, so she simply nodded with a half smile on her face. "That's…good!"

"I looked for her this morning, she told me she'd explain everything but I didn't see her."

"We could always go looking for her later today!" Himena suggested with a bright smile. "I'd love to make it up to you for leaving you alone last night."

"You don't have any more homework?"

Himena beamed and shook her head, "Nope, and I won't go over it again until Sunday night."

"Then will you help me with mine after we look?"

—

People rarely entered the convenience store alone for fear of encountering Zuki without some emotional support. Though it was small, her presence seemed to be around every literal corner. As a couple rounded a corner into the next aisle over there she was again, standing at the opposite end of the row with an uncomfortably fake looking smile and her hands held stiffly by her side. Just as she had when they entered the last aisle. An unfortunate consequence of being the only two people in the store.

"Maybe we should split up," one whispered to the other, "She can't watch both of us at the same time."

"What if she can?" the other whimpered.

When they looked down the aisle once again, she was gone. Of course she was, her shift was up and it wasn't her job to keep an eye on customers anymore. Now it was time to keep an eye out for Rockabilly.

The sky had cleared a bit since the morning, but still no sign of any red clad girls taking a stroll through the sky. Did she walk some places on the ground? Surely that wasn't as fast as her leaps through the sky. If she could do that, Zuki thought, that would be the only way she went anywhere.

Himena sat in the window of a coffee shop across the street, computer open and clacking away at the keyboard. Zuki approached and knocked on the glass, startling Himena, and everyone else sitting beside the window. Himena shut her laptop quickly, stowing it in her bag and swinging around to the front door.

"Sorry! Time got away from me, I was ah, editing some papers."

"You said you were done with homework until Sunday," Zuki countered, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket as a cool breeze picked up. Despite the chill, Himena's face flushed.

"Oh it wasn't homework it was just editing things…for fun!"

"I saw you. Playing games," Zuki accused sternly, though a wide smile cracked across her face. "You're a bad liar."

With a dejected whimper, Himena hung her head. Such a puppy.

"You shouldn't hide it. There's nothing wrong with liking video games," Zuki chided, the pair heading off down the street to no place in particular.

"I know…I just don't think people would expect it of me."

"So?"

"So what if they found out?"

"So what if they did. Stay true to yourself and don't listen to anyone who says otherwise." The words had become a personal mantra for her since childhood, words spoken by none other than the subject of their search party. Much more impactful than the words of wisdom she had to share last night, 'you need to relax' and 'stay out of trouble', now she just sounded like a babysitter.

"Where do you think she is?" Himena asked with a sweet smile, noticing Zuki had dropped off in thought. Classmates were concerned about whether or not Zuki had magic powers, but sometimes she was convinced it was Himena who was a mind reader. Maybe on her death bed she'd admit it to her.

Zuki shrugged dramatically, turning her head once again to the sky, Himena holding onto her arm lightly so she could maintain a somewhat straight path down the sidewalk. "Every time I've seen her she came out of nowhere. And then jumped into the sky."

Slowly Himena craned her neck to the sky as well, shielding her eyes with her free hand. "Why don't you keep your eyes on the sky, and I'll keep an eye out down here," she decided, looking down just in time to pull Zuki out of the path of an oncoming cyclist. "Let's take a look at the apartment complex again, maybe she went back there to catch the guy that attacked you!"

Zuki's smile grew somehow wider than before. "You're full of good ideas."

"Plus, then we can see if that thing is still there. I'd love to take it home and have a look at it," Himena murmured, her gaze sweeping across the sidewalk in search of anything unusual.

"So robots, guns, flying girls in red dresses, and what was the other thing you found?"

"A lonely man?"

"No, you said there was a…cat in a hat?"

"Oh, a dog in a tie. He was blue. I couldn't see his eyes," Zuki narrowed her own eyes at the thought, "suspicious."

Nodding thoughtfully, Himena gently guided her friend around a corner, Zuki's eyes still locked skyward.

"What kind of game were you playing earlier?" Zuki asked, breaking the brief, comfortable silence between them.

Himena's lips pressed into a thin line. "It's not anything special," she insisted quickly, "I was just…trying it out."

"What is it about?"

"…Zombies, but not like regular zombies. It's not a totally trashy game I swear, there's a good story and— wait."

"I told you you don't have to make excuses for liking something," Zuki reprimanded, "I think zombies are cool and if anyone tells you they aren't then—"

"No, wait," Himena stopped in her tracks, pulling Zuki to a stop as well and leaning in close. "Look."

Squishing Zuki's cheeks in her hand, she tugged her friend's chin down so that she faced forward once again. Her black eyes slowly panned left, and then right just as slowly. "A whuh?" Zuki asked, her face still smushed by Hinema's hand. There didn't seem to be anything of note before them, just a clothing store, a record shop, a car repair center, and a McDonalds.

"Follow me."

Whatever caught her attention was still not apparent to Zuki, but Himena had her serious face on, so she followed without question as her friend crossed the street quickly, headed towards the McDonalds. Himena darted away from the front door and off to the side, peering around the corner of the building to the back lot.

"What is it?" Zuki asked in a hush, pulling out her phone with the camera at the ready.

"I'm not sure I saw it right, but if I did, I think I might know how we can find your lady in red," Himena replied in a low tone.

"In the trash?" Zuki asked quietly, as all she could spot behind the fast food restaurant was a large dumpster. There wasn't any hint of incredulity in her voice, however, Zuki would willingly throw herself into the dumpster if it meant locating Rockabilly and getting to talk to her again.

"No, insi- ah!"

"Wha—?!" Zuki had nearly climbed onto Himena's back to get a good look over her head when Himena clapped her hand over Zuki's mouth. The back door to the building creaked open just a crack, and out scuffled a little blue dog, walking on his hind legs and carrying two wrapped hamburgers in his tiny arms. He looked both ways cautiously, thankfully not spying the two girls hidden around the corner, before he headed off down a secluded alleyway.

"That's him," Zuki whispered, sliding down off Himena's back. "That's Jazz."

"He grabbed two hamburgers, he's definitely too small to eat both of them by himself," Himena said with a decisive nod. "So he must be bringing the other one to your lady in red!"

"Then let's follow him," Zuki murmured, stepping out from their hiding place. "We just have to be careful not to spook him, she might be in hiding. If he knows he's being followed he might give us the run around."

Zuki lead the charge with a cautious Himena following close behind, the pair ducking behind boxes and trashcans whenever they felt they had strayed just a little too close. They needn't worry too much about losing track of him, as Himena pointed out he left the cutest little paw prints in the snow as he walked, making trailing him even easier. Eventually the alleyway opened up into a small courtyard surrounded by tall buildings, and suddenly the prints disappeared completely. At a loss, the pair pressed up against the wall.

"That must be where she is hiding out," Himena reasoned, her breathing already noticeably more labored. "Maybe she picked him up?" Zuki nodded affirmatively, steeling herself for the encounter.

"Okay, I'll go first," she began, clenching her fists at her sides, "stay close."

Without any further preamble, Zuki swung around the corner, and immediately smacked straight into a girl on the other side, sending both of them crashing to the ground. Managing to avoid being toppled by Zuki, Himena took a good look at the girl they had quite literally just run into.

Her hair was thick and warm brown, curled at the ends with enough volume that Himena had half a mind to ask her what she used in her hair care routine. That is, if the girl even spoke Japanese. It seemed pretty clear that she wasn't from around here, with her big green eyes and and tall, curvy stature.

"It's you!" Zuki breathed, immediately crawling forward despite her dizziness and leaning in close to the girl, "Isn't it? Rockabilly?"

The girl blinked, and Himena answered instead, "This can't be her, Zuki. She's just a lost foreigner."

"It looks just like her!" Zuki insisted, still hovering mere inches from the girl's face.

Himena frowned, "How? I thought you said she had red eyes and black and red hair and wings?"

Zuki leaned back and took a look at the girl's shoes, which certainly did not have the wings she expected to see. "She's a superhero," she said simply, dismissing any uncertainty with a shake of her head, "this is just her under cover identity. Right?"

"I don't think she underst—"

"That would sure be something!" the girl replied with a little smile, standing and dusting herself off. Himena looked stunned as the girl spoke in perfect Japanese, not even the slightest hint of an accent to indicate where she might be from. Something about the way she spoke still seemed…off, however. There were no grammatical errors, no slurring of words, no strange accent, and yet something about it that seemed a little unusual, even if she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

"Are you not her?" Zuki asked, visibly crestfallen.

The girl extended her hand to help her up with a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. My name's Rosalind."

"Did you see a dog run through here? Carrying hamburgers?" Zuki asked seriously.

"I don't think so!" Rosalind laughed, "I think I'd remember that."

"HEY!"

A voice echoed down the alley into the courtyard, and the trio of girls turned in unison to see a shadowed figure, backlit by the sun glancing off the snow on the ground behind him. He took a step forward, and Zuki immediately recognized him.

"That's the guy from last night!"

The figure halted his advance, faltering for a moment before pulling out the same type of gun device that he wielded the night before. "It's you, the girl who broke my last duringe" he hissed, his voice bold but his posture suggesting he remembered the sequence of events last night all too well. "We heard you were saved by the Pretty Cure last night. Do you know where she went?"

Zuki's face fell blank. "What the hell is that?"

Her unhelpful response slapped the man's face into an expression of supreme irritation. "Who was it who saved you last night?"

"My friend," Zuki replied with a small shrug. "Why?" Himena leaned protectively over her friend, while Rosalind simply stared blankly at the new arrival.

"She has something we need."

"Who is 'we'?" Himena asked with piqued interest.

"The Denizens of Coalesence. When Denizen G is asked to retrieve something, Denizen G will deliver." The man's posture straightened as he spoke, holding the duringe out and pointing it towards Zuki. "So where is she?"

"Do you all talk about yourselves in third person?" Rosalind asked with a quiet giggle from the back of the group. The question made Zuki snort loudly and Himena cover her face to hide her smile.

Denizen G approached rapidly with his finger on the trigger of the weapon, "Where is she?! You don't have your bag of tricks with you today so don't plan on my cowardice again!" he insisted, though it was clear Zuki still unnerved him as he kept his head turned away from her face and focused on the bare expanse of her neck.

In one swift movement he charged, taking advantage of Zuki's dizziness as the other two fled while her sluggish reaction time left her barely turned away by the time he reached her. His gloved hand twisted in her hair and pulled her head back.

"Wait! It was me!"

Himena dashed back towards her friend, holding her arms out protectively. "I'm the one you're looking for!"

"Himena!" Zuki pleaded, twisting in Denizen G's grip as Himena covered her with her own body.

"No!" Rosalind cried, barreling towards the man and reaching into her bag to pull out something red that glinted in the light. Before she could reach him he had let go of Zuki's hair, the girl crumpling to the ground, and sunk the needles of the duringe into Himena's outstretched arm.

"Himena!" Zuki screamed, pulling at the man's lab coat desperately, "Get away from her!"

" _ **Pretty Cure! March on!"**_

The cry echoed in the ears of all those in the courtyard, as did the resulting music that seemed to emanate from the burst of light where Rosalind used to be. In a flash Rosalind was no longer there, and instead Rockabilly had now taken her place mid-run, clenched fist pulled back for a sucker punch.

" _ **Marching to the beat of a fiery heart, Cure Rockabilly!"**_

Denizen G let out a quiet "eep" as he noticed the fist flying towards him, and the fiery eyed girl behind it. Just as fast as Rockabilly could throw a punch, Denizen G disappeared out of thin air in a puff of white smoke, taking his duringe along with him and leaving Himena to collapse into Zuki's arms. With her target gone, Rockabilly's fist instead cracked into the building beyond the two girls, taking out a chunk as she made contact. Zuki's eyes widened as Rockabilly shook her hand, not a gesture of pain but of nonchalance, brushing off the dust and debris as she crouched down beside the pair.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't think he'd attack. If I had I never would have let you two stay here, I would have shown myself right away," Rockabilly apologized profusely, inspecting Himena's arm. Much like with Zuki's leg, she was left with two injection sites, one of which was blackened with dark snaking stains across her skin.

"She's going to turn into a monster," Zuki said flatly, although her brow knit together with concern.

The claim seemed to surprise Rockabilly, who looked at her confused. "What? Why would you say that?"

"Because that's what happened to me last night. That guy sent a robot after me and when it injected me I turned into a monster until you came to—" Himena let out a low gurgling noise that slowly evolved into a flat moan, grey smoke beginning to pour from her mouth.

"Oh shit," Rockabilly swore, scooping up Zuki in her arms and leaping with ease atop one of the surrounding fire escapes. "Stay here, Jazz don't let her come down." Zuki looked down, surprised to see the blue dog on the same fire escape with both his hamburgers.

"Got it, bebop!"

Without another word Rockabilly jumped back down to the ground before Zuki could protest, and she leaned over the rail to see what exactly had become of Himena. She emerged from the grey cloud that surrounded her as something unrecognizable. It was…vaguely humanoid, and tall. It had two legs and two arms and a head, but there were no features on its face but a black line down the center of its white head, and a singular eye in the middle. Black bands striped both its pale legs, and its long arms ended in large hands that nearly touched the ground. Strangest of all was its chest, which bore a toothed mouth in the center that seemed to be drooling something black and noxious, the smell reaching her even as high up as she was.

"So this is their new strategy, bebop."

Looking down Zuki saw Jazz peering between the bars of the fire escape, watching the scene intently. She opened her mouth to ask what he meant by strategy when the monster let out a garbled scream and lunged for Rockabilly who side stepped the attack and swung back with her elbow, knocking the creature to the ground. Zuki winced. Knowing her friend was in there somewhere, even if unharmed, made it all the more difficult to watch. Still she kept her dark eyes trained on the pair as they sparred.

Rockabilly was beautiful to watch, as she seemed to roll from any attack with ease as though she knew each step preemptively, like it was a choreographed dance. If that were the case, then the monster Himena had turned into needed more rehearsal time. Blow after blow from Rockabilly connected until it had slowed substantially, and with a look of resolve she threw her hand into the air.

" _ **Menagerie Arsenal!"**_

Her heart tipped war hammer appeared in a flash of light and she tossed it easily from hand to hand despite its massive size. With a flourish she raised it above her head and jumped into the air, swinging it down with might as she fell.

" _ **Pretty Cure! Shockwave Blast!"**_

Just as it had last night, a bright red light shown from the hammer upon impact, the force nearly knocking back little Jazz were he not holding onto the rails with his paws. Rockabilly paused to breathe deeply for a moment before she crouched down at what once again looked like Himena laying despondent on the ground.

"I'm so sorry I let him do that to you," she murmured apologetically, helping the girl to sit upright slowly and wrapping her in a tight hug. Himena blinked bleary eyed, her unfocused gaze moving from Rockabilly, to herself, and back.

"Wh-what happened?"

Jazz grabbed up his wrapped hamburgers once again and looked up at Zuki. "Let's go back down, bebop." The two began descending the steps quickly, the clang of Zuki's footsteps echoing in the courtyard. She peered over once more to see if the two were still talking when a puff of white smoke caught her eye. It appeared just behind Rockabilly, and from it stepped Denizen G, returned once more with his weapon held steadfast in his hand.

"Rockabilly!" Zuki shouted in a panic. Rockabilly looked up to where Zuki sprinted down the fire escape, a look of confusion on her face. Zuki had picked up Jazz unceremoniously as she began taking the steps multiple at a time, Denizen G raising his weapon. "Look out!"

Rockabilly turned only in time to see the glint of sunlight on metal as the device sank into her skin and she screamed. The empty tank on the device this time began to fill with not a pink, but a gold shimmering liquid, and red light burst from her eyes as Rockabilly cried out in pain, immediately losing her magical form in a flash. Zuki's blood ran cold as her mind raced to think of a solution, a distraction, anything. Only one came to mind.

Without warning, Zuki wound up and threw the little blue dog as hard as she could at the man with a mighty shout, the hamburgers immediately dropping from the dogs arms as he screamed through the air. Once again surprised and scared by Zuki, who by now he was convinced was certifiably mad, Denizen G pulled away from Rockabilly, now Rosalind, who fell limp to the ground. Just before Jazz made impact, teeth bared, the man whirled around and pulled back, disappearing in a puff of smoke once more with the tank of his duringe only half filled with the gold glittering substance.

Jazz hit the snow covered ground with a tiny fwap, and stood up just as dizzy and disoriented as everyone else had become by this point. Zuki jogged up to him, peeling the little dog off the ground and holding him up before her, "I'm sorry I threw you, I couldn't think," she explained, Jazz shaking his head insistently.

"Don't worry about me, we need to check on Rosalind, bebop!"

Zuki looked over her shoulder at the fallen warrior, whom Himena had rolled over onto her back. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing heavy, but she was breathing. That was a good start.

"Look," Zuki pointed to the injection sites on Rosalind's skin. Like both her and Himena, she had dual punctures, but neither of them had the same black stains as the others. Jazz walked up to her cautiously and placed a paw on her shoulder.

"Ros? Billie?" he called out gently, with no response. He waddled over to pick up his hamburgers once more, setting one on the girls' chest. "I got you a burger. You've gotta eat it before it gets cold, bebop." There was a wibble in his voice, and soon tiny teardrops dotted the snow.

"Don't worry little guy," Hinema cooed softly, crawling carefully on her knees to scoop up the little dog and hug him close. "We'll figure out something, I promise. Right Zuki?"

Zuki nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I won't let anything else happen to her, she'll get better, right? I don't think they injected her with that brown stuff, and they didn't take all her sparkly stuff. So that's good, right?" She looked for answers on the blue dog's face, but he only nodded weakly, rubbing his eyes and crawling out of Himena's arms.

"She'll be okay. She's a soldier, bebop," he said without much conviction, pulling fretfully on his tie. "We need to get her to someplace safe." Something seemed to catch his attention and he waddled through the snow next to Himena and picked it up. A shining gold coin, emblazoned with a bright pink heart and tiny wing engravings beside it.

"Hey, I've seen one of those before. That looks like the one Rockabilly found after she saved me last night," Zuki said, turning her head to the side. "What are those?"

Jazz turned, puffed up with new resolve. "I'll explain later, bebop. For now, get her someplace safe, I have someone I need to find." Reaching into Rosalind's bag, the little dog retrieved the same device she had produced in order to transform. Up close it looked like a red MP3 player, with a heart button in the center and two small wing buttons on either side. "Take her to your house, I'll come find you later." And with that, he gave one last nod to the befuddled duo, and took off.


End file.
